What is a “planetary boundary”?Explain

Assignment #8 – Population – Due Monday March 16

Instructions:
Answer the following questions and submit as an MS Word document, or a pdf file (submissions in other formats will not be graded and will receive a grade of zero) make sure you include your full name on the document, your PID is not necessary. Do not include the questions in your answer, but do number them. Save the document with a file name that includes your name and the assignment number. Submit on D2L in the Assignment Drop Box by attaching the document.

The purpose of this assignment is to provide information on population dynamics and specifically on human population growth and its impact on sustainability of Earth’s ecosystems and human culture and societies. Use the following readings and, if necessary, the internet or other information sources to answer the questions.

Readings:
Waldbauer (course book) – Chapters 10 and 11; Additional Readings Human Population Grows Up from Scientific American, A Measurable Planetary Boundary for the Biosphere and The Tragedy of the Commons from Science, and Carrying Capacity and the Quality of Life from The Social Contract.

Questions:
Insights from Insects – What Bad Bugs Can Teach Us, Chapters 10 and 11. Briefly describe the main points/key points or topics of each of these chapters.

Insights from Insects – What Bad Bugs Can Teach Us, Chapters 10 and 11. Find one example of a scientific experiment in one of these chapters (there are eleven!! – but a few may be difficult for you to identify) and clearly describe the experiment and the hypothesis that was tested. Then describe the conclusion and how the evidence supports it.

For the articles, The Tragedy of the Commons and Carrying Capacity and the Quality of Life taken together:

What is the key problem that has “no technical solution” discussed by Hardin in these two papers? And why is there no technical solution to the problem?
What are the commons?
What are the two primary ways that the key problem discussed in these articles impact the “commons”?
Explain “carrying capacity” and “cultural carrying capacity”, and how they differ.
What is your response to the question posed by Garrett Hardin at the end of Carrying Capacity and the Quality of Life?

For A Measurable Planetary Boundary for the Biosphere, Note that planetary boundaries were discussed in class in lecture 2 in context of a “Science in the News” article and NPP more recently in lecture 12 in discussions of energy for life on earth:

What is a “planetary boundary”?
What is NPP and why is it proposed as measurable planetary boundary?

For Human Population Grows Up:
What are the underlying trends with regard to human population and population demographics?
What problems will we face because of these trends?